Poached (20 page)

“I'm not!” I said quickly, though I still had the presence of mind to use the gruff voice, hoping he wouldn't realize I was a kid. “I'm just working!”

“Don't give me that bull,” Astros Cap growled. “I know a tail when I see one. Now tell me the truth . . . or I will hurt you.”

He held one of his hands where I could see it. It was clenched into a fist.

I gulped. I'd made it most of my life without anyone shaking a fist in my face, and now it had happened twice in one day. I didn't think telling Astros Cap the truth would make him any happier with me, though, so I tried lying again. “I swear, I wasn't following you! I'm only an actor!”

“I warned you,” Astros Cap said. The fist withdrew from sight, then slammed into the koala nose hard enough to dent it.

Luckily for me, Astros Cap wasn't that bright. Apparently, he hadn't realized that punching the koala in the face wouldn't actually hurt
me
. The blow still knocked me off balance, however. I stumbled and, already top-heavy in the costume, tumbled backward into the landscaping.

Astros Cap loomed over me. Now that I was on the ground, he looked prepared to kick me—and my body didn't have nearly the protection in the costume that my head did.

“Wait!” I said. “Please . . .”

“You had your chance to talk,” Astros Cap snarled, then cocked back his leg.

“Hey!” someone yelled. “Leave Kazoo alone!”

Since I was on my back, the mouth in my mask was angled up toward Astros Cap. Behind him I could see one of the families I'd just posed for. The father was the one who'd shouted. His wife was shielding the eyes of their two children
from the sight of a grown man beating up their favorite koala.

Astros Cap turned to face the father, unfazed. “This doesn't concern you, amigo. Mind your own business and move along.”

The father didn't back down. Instead he turned and yelled to some other tourists. “Help! Some psycho's beating up Kazoo!”

Within seconds a dozen other people rushed to his side. Most were parents, though a few park employees were in the mix. They all gasped upon seeing Astros Cap looming over me, and then grew angry.

“I'm only going to say this one more time,” the father told Astros Cap. “Leave the koala alone.”

“What's wrong with you?” a mother demanded. “This is a family park!”

“Don't hurt Yogi!” yelled the German father, who still didn't know who I was supposed to be.

Now that he was outnumbered, Astros Cap wasn't so tough anymore. He raised his hands, signaling the others to back down. “Hold on,” he said meekly. “This is all just a big misunderstanding. There's no need to get nasty.”

“Yes there is!” I yelled. “He stole my wallet!”

The mob grew even angrier.

“You mugged an innocent koala?” a grandmother shouted at Astros Cap.

“Get him!” one of the park employees yelled.

Astros Cap ran. Several of the adults went after him. Astros Cap crashed through the landscaping and made it to Adventure Road just ahead of the mob, which pursued him toward the front gates like hounds going after a rabbit.

The other adults came to my side. “All you all right?” a mother asked.

“No,” I said. “Can you help me out of this costume?”

I knew it might cause trouble to reveal my identity, but there was no time for caution. I needed to learn who Astros Cap was and I couldn't do it dressed like a koala.

Someone popped the head off my costume. Everyone reacted with surprise.

“You're just a kid!” a father gasped.

“After-school job,” I lied, then wriggled out of the rest of the costume and bolted after Astros Cap.

He—and his pursuers—were well ahead of me, but I poured on the speed. Without the bulky, heavy costume, I suddenly felt a hundred times lighter. Plus, after so much time in the stuffy suit, the fresh night air was invigorating.

Astros Cap was most likely heading for the park's main exit. There was really no other place for him to go. Everyone came to FunJungle by car, and the only place for guests to park was the giant lot out in front. The crowd grew thicker as we went, as everyone was funneling the same way. Astros Cap ducked and jibed through the other people, trying to
shake his pursuers. I lost sight of him in the crowd.

Luckily, I knew a shortcut. I veered between the carnival midway and the nocturnal-animals building. There was an access to the employee area between them. I shot through it and cut behind a few exhibits to the employee exit. I emerged outside the front gates just in time to see Astros Cap barge through.

The thug was in such a hurry he was shoving people aside, even young kids and old ladies. He'd managed to lose the mob pursuing him, however. They all must have been stuck back in the crowd.

Astros Cap darted into the parking lot. I paralleled him through the lines of cars, trying to keep a safe distance. He hadn't seen me without the koala costume on, so he wouldn't recognize me—but then, I'd already been caught following him once that day and it hadn't been pleasant.

It was so dark now that Astros Cap finally had to remove his sunglasses, but in the dimly lit parking lot I still couldn't get a good look at him. We zigzagged through the cars until we reached the Giselle Giraffe section, where Astros Cap quickly ducked into a white sedan. I hurried over as he started the engine, arriving right before he slammed the pedal down and peeled away.

I had just enough time to memorize the license plate.
TEXAS, SDP
5967.

Then I turned around and headed right back for the park. It was now well after five, which meant my parents would soon be looking for me. As I crossed the parking lot, I dialed Summer McCracken. I wasn't expecting to get her, thinking I'd just leave a message—but to my surprise, she answered on the second ring.

“Hey!” she said. “I've been waiting to hear from you.”

“You have?” I asked.

“Of course. How'd the investigation go today? Did my plan for you to go undercover work? You didn't chicken out, did you?”

“No,” I said, a bit too defensively. “I did exactly what we talked about. And it worked just fine.”

“Ha!” Summer crowed. “I told you it would! So? Did you find out who stole Kazoo?”

“Maybe. I need a little help from you, though. Can you write something down?”

“Give me a second.” I heard Summer scrambling for a pencil. “Okay. Shoot.”

“I need to find the owner of the car with this license plate: Texas, SDP 5967.”

There was a pause while Summer copied that down. “Got it. I'll send it to my dad right away. I'm sure he knows someone who can handle it. But he'll need to know why I'm asking for it. Is it the koala thief's?”

“Could be.” I told Summer all about Freddie Malloy and Astros Cap as I reentered FunJungle. It took longer than I'd expected, as Summer could never let me go more than three sentences without asking a question. By the time I'd explained everything, I was back by the Polar Pavilion again.

“So you really think this Astros Cap guy is our man?” Summer asked me.

“I don't know,” I admitted. “But he's certainly up to something around here. Someone ought to look into it—and I know Marge won't. If I gave her this info, all she'd do would be to try and arrest me for impersonating a koala.”

“You're probably right,” Summer laughed. “But Daddy will get to the bottom of this. I'll make sure of it. You did good work, Teddy. I wish I could have been more help.”

“You helped plenty,” I assured her. “I never would have found Astros Cap if you hadn't thought for me to dress up as Kazoo.”

“That was pretty brilliant, wasn't it?” Summer teased.

“There's just one thing,” I said. “When you tell your dad about the license plate, you probably shouldn't tell him I'm the one who gave it to you.”

“But I'd have to,” Summer countered. “How else would he believe I got the info?”

“He's already threatened to fire my parents if I did any more investigating. You think he'll be pleased that I stole a
Kazoo costume and wandered around the park in it?”

“That was my idea. I'll own up to it.”

“But I
did
it. Can't you just make something up?”

“I can try—but knowing Daddy, he'll figure out the truth anyhow. Hold on.” It sounded like someone had entered Summer's room. I heard them say something, after which Summer groaned. “Sorry, Teddy. I've got to go. It's supposed to be study time here, which means no phone calls.”

“Since when do you care about rules?” I asked.

“Since I got put on probation,” Summer answered, now keeping her voice low. “I got busted for sneaking out after curfew last week. If anything else happens, they'll boot me out of here—and Daddy will have a cow. Thanks for calling with the update. I'll let you know the moment we hear anything.”

Summer hung up before I could even say good-bye. I tucked my phone back in my pocket and trudged into the landscaping beside the Polar Pavilion.

The Kazoo costume lay crumpled right where I'd abandoned it. There was no one around. Everyone who'd witnessed the attack had apparently gone home. I figured I should return the costume to its rightful place; if someone noticed it was missing, Marge might comb through the security footage and find me entering the changing room. It was easier to wear it than to carry it, though, so I quickly pulled it on and hurried across the park.

There were no longer any tourists to stop me, so I made good time and was soon back at the changing room. No one was there, which wasn't surprising; the actors tended to take off the moment their shifts ended, and it was now well after closing time. I pulled off my koala pelt and hung it on the wall.

Before I could make it out the door, however, Charlie Connor entered.

He was wearing his old Larry the Lizard costume, although since it was after park hours, he had the head tucked under his arm and a cigar in his mouth. Charlie was normally in a bad mood, but it got considerably worse upon seeing me. He stopped in his tracks and pointed accusingly. “You! What are you doing here?”

I stuttered for a moment, scrambling to come up with something, then realized I actually had a legitimate reason to be there. “I —well—I . . . was looking for
you
.”

“Me?” Charlie's eyes suddenly lit up with understanding. “Oh no. This is about that missing koala, isn't it?”

“Yes,” I said.

“Of course.” Charlie stormed past me, threw his lizard head up onto the shelf, and unzipped his costume. “There's been a crime, so naturally, you're playing detective again. Well, just like last time, I didn't do anything. I had no beef with that koala.”

“Kristi Sullivan said you did.”

Charlie froze in shock, halfway out of his costume. He looked like a mutant lizard shedding its skin. “She ratted me out? That girl's a piece of work. First she refuses to go out with me on the grounds that I'm a little person—”

“She refused because you tried to scam FunJungle.”

“That was a legitimate injury claim, and this lousy park rejected it!” Charlie angrily kicked off the rest of his costume. “And even if it wasn't on the up-and-up, that doesn't make me a koala-napper. If you want to know who did that, maybe you ought to look at Kristi herself.”

“What?” I asked. “Kristi wouldn't steal Kazoo. She loved him.”

“Exactly,” Charlie told me. “She was always going on about how adorable he was and how she'd be so upset when the time came for him to go back to Australia. More than once she told me she might swipe him so she could keep him forever.”

“I'm sure she was only joking.”

“Was she? 'Cause the koala's gone, and she had better access to his exhibit than anyone.”

I started to counter that, then bit my lip, realizing Charlie had a point. The real reason I'd discounted Kristi as a potential thief was that I liked her, but just because someone was nice—or at least pretending to be nice—didn't mean
they couldn't do something wrong. “But she was so worried about him . . . ,” I began.

“Smoke and mirrors, kid. Totally threw you off her scent, didn't she?”

“I guess, but . . .”

“Let me ask you something else: Why'd she say I took Kazoo? To ransom him? Shake the park down for a few million?”

“Yes.”

“Then where's the ransom note?” Charlie asked. “That's the number one rule of kidnapping, isn't it? Ask for a ransom. If you don't do it, you don't get the money. But there isn't a note. Therefore, either the kidnapper is an idiot, which I'm not—or Kazoo wasn't kidnapped at all.”

I nodded understanding, but added, “You could still make money off a stolen koala.”

“How?”

“By selling it.”

Charlie laughed. “Right. Exactly how easy do you think it is to fence a koala?”

I shrugged.

“It's impossible,” Charlie said. “It's not like there's a couple hundred koalas for sale on eBay every day and I could just slip Kazoo in there without being noticed. Right now there's exactly
one
koala at large in this country, and the very moment whoever
took it tries to sell it, every cop, Fed, and animal-rights activist is gonna come down on them.”

“Not if Flora Hancock had already hired you to steal it for her.”

Charlie seemed legitimately confused by this statement. “I don't know any Floral Peacock.”

“Flora Hancock,” I repeated. “The rich lady from Waco who collects exotic animals.”

“Never heard of her.” Either Charlie was being honest or he was one heck of an actor.

“You're sure?” I asked. “Because she spent a lot of time in KoalaVille.”

“So did plenty of people. I didn't meet any of them. I just stood around in that stinking koala suit and let people take my picture.” I tried to say something else, but Charlie cut me off. “And besides, if this fancy-pants collector really did want Kazoo, why would she come to me? I don't know squat about stealing koalas. Long ago, I was a two-bit mugger who took cash and jewelry. Nothing more intricate than that. And I've been clean for over five years now. I'm trying to live a normal, law-abiding life—which isn't easy when every time there's a crime you start pointing fingers at me because I'm the only criminal you know.”